Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

I hadn't really appreciated how easy it was to make soup until yesterday! I was with my beautiful friend Rosie and she suggested that we made soup for lunch as she had lots of ripe Tomatoes and Peppers to use up.

I didn't realise how simple it was to do - just roast a load of vegetables (any selection would taste delicious I'm sure) with some garlic and spices, add some stock and then blend in a food processor and re-heat before serving with some fresh crusty bread!

So all credit goes to Rosie for this wonderful recipe! 

Recipe: (serves 2, but can be easily doubled or tripled)

- 8 medium vine Tomatoes

- 2 large red Peppers

- 1 red onion or 2 shallots

- 3 cloves of garlic

- 1 fresh Chili or a sprinkle of Chili Flakes

- Few sprigs of fresh Thyme

- Splash of Olive oil

- Salt and pepper for seasoning

- 1 Stock cube (Vegetable or Chicken)

- 200ml of boiling water

How to make:

- Chop all your veggies up in to large chunks, pop in to a large baking tray and scatter the garlic cloves, olive oil, spices and seasoning over the vegetables and give it a good mix.

- Roast in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until all the vegetables are looking cooked and slightly charred in places (this gives it a slight smokey flavour).

- Put the roasted vegetables in to the food processor and blend until it looks like a thick and chunky tomato sauce. Make the stock and then pour in to the vegetable mixture and then whizz again until fully mixed in, but be careful not to whizz too much as you still want to have a thick texture.

- Pour the soup in to a saucepan and re-heat until steamy, then serve with some crusty bread and cheese!

- Enjoy!

The veggies ready for roasting

The roasted vegetables ready for the food processor

Before blending

Soup is ready, along with crusty fresh white bread and cheese!

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Cheeeeesy Twists

There are two things that will always taste fantastic together, and they are cheese and pastry! I love making cheese biscuits using my Granny's recipe, but this time I decided to try something a bit different and use puff pastry instead of short crust. 

I love cheese straws, but I have never made them before as I usually buy them so I thought I would give it a go. It turns out that they couldn't be much easier to make! They tasted delicious and were gobbled up in a day so make sure to make a large batch if you have lots of mouths to feed!

Recipe: (makes 30 small straws)

- 1 x packet of ready made puff pastry (unrolled and unthawed if frozen)

- 3 x good handfulls of grated Cheddar cheese and Parmesan 

- 2 tsp Poppy seeds

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 200c and grease 2 baking sheets.

- Unroll the pastry and scatter with a good hanfull of the grated cheddar and parmesan cheese. Then fold the pastry in half and roll out until it becomes the thickness of a £1 coin. 

- Using a large sharp knife, cut the pastry in to long, thin strips and then cut those in half to make about 30 small strips. 

- Twist each pastry stip 3 times and then lay on the baking sheet. Once all are twisted, put some more grated cheese on top of each one and then sprinkle over the poppy seeds.

- Bake in the oven for about 6-7 minutes until golden brown on the top and bottom. Keep an eye on them though as they will burn quickly. 

- Enjoy warm if you can, if not keep them in an air tight container and eat at the earliest opportunity! You won't be able to resist!

Photo how to:

Grated cheddar and parmesan

The folded pastry with the cheese inside, ready for rolling out

Cutting the pastry in to strips for twisting

The twisted cheese straws on the baking tray

These are the finished cheese straws hot out of the oven!

Mmmmmm

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Aubergine 'Chips'

I was having a search on the internet for some cooking inspiration and I came across these wonderful Aubergine Chips! They looked so crisp and also a good accompaniment to the Peanut Chicken and salad I was making for dinner.

These Aubergine chips are so easy to make, and also really healthy! You just have to dip them in egg, then Parmesan bread crumbs and bake for about 15 mins in a hot oven! I seasoned my breadcrumb mixture with some Chili flakes and Paprika, but you could try any mix of spices.

Recipe:

- 1 Aubergine

- 1-2 eggs, Whisked (depends on how much aubergine you have)

- 1 Cup of dried bread crumbs

- Good grating of Parmesan cheese

- 1 tsp Chili flakes

- 1 tsp Paprika

- Salt and Pepper

To make:

- Preheat oven to about 180c

- Mix the breadcrumbs with the chili flakes, paprika, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper

- Then Cut the Aubergine in to 'chip' like shapes

- Dip the Aubergine chips in to the whisked egg first, then in to the bread crumb mixture and then place them straight on to an oiled baking tray. Repeat until all are coated.

-Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so the bread crumbs dont burn towards the end of baking.

- Serve them with salad, or just with a tomato dip!

The whisked egg and the bread crumb mixture.

The Aubergine ready to go in the oven!

A close up of the Aubergine chips!

Hope you enjoy this recipe! 

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